Barcelona 2-0 Real Sociedad: Neymar and Pedro on target as Blaugrana take another step towards title

Vote for Pedro: The winger scored a stunner for Barça (Image: David Ramos)

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Second-half goals from Neymar and Pedro edged Barcelona one step closer to the La Liga title as they beat David Moyes ' Real Sociedad 2-0 at Camp Nou on Saturday evening.

Barca now know that if they beat Atletico Madrid and Deportivo de La Coruna in their remaining two fixtures — providing a strike doesn't bring a premature end to the season in Spain — then there is nothing Real Madrid will be able to do to stop them from winning the league.

They have come full circle since the last time they took on Moyes. After losing on a rainy night in San Sebastián in January, the Catalan club were propelled into a crisis. Luis Enrique and Lionel Messi were supposedly feuding, Andoni Zubizarreta was sacked and Josep Maria Bartomeu called summer elections to vote for a new club president.

A lot has changed since then. This was Barca's 28th win in 30 games since that debacle at Anoeta and they remain on course to win the treble.

After Moyes and La Real shut Barcelona out earlier this season, for 45 minutes here it looked like the Scot, with the help of his goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, may have found the magic formula to stopping Barca's 111-goal trio of Messi , Neymar and Luis Suarez.

The South American attack didn't have it all their way in the first half, and given the legal highs of Wednesday night's euphoric win against Bayern Munich, there was a slightly flat feel about Barca here.

Messi was still purring, dumping Inigo Martinez on the ground at one point, as he had done to poor Jerome Boateng in midweek, and the home side did still end the opening 45 minutes having had 70 percent possession and seven shots on goal.

Three of those attempts were on target, but in 22-year-old Geronimo Rulli it looked like they'd met their match. Real Sociedad are desperate to turn the Argentine's loan into a permanent deal here and he demonstrated why with saves from Messi, Neymar and Gerard Pique.

Luis Luis: Suarez competes for the ball (Image: David Ramos)

Dani Alves, still playing like a man after a new contract, was lively on the right. It was his cross that was looped towards the top corner by Messi's head, but a back-peddling Rulli managed to tip it over his bar. He then saved at Neymar 's feet following more good work from Alves, before denying Pique from point blank range.

Considering this wasn't Barca's most emphatic performance of the season, they were still completely in control. Martinez was lucky not to concede a penalty when the ball struck his hand in the box, Suarez headed Messi's diagonal pass wide and Rafinha's goal-bound shot was blocked by Mikel Gonzalez.

It may have been uncomfortable viewing for Moyes, whose technical area was fortunately in the shade, but he was on his tip-toes when Sergio Canales' strike was diverted over the bar by Pique on one of few Real Sociedad counters.

Alves then whistled one wide from distance as Real Sociedad managed to see out 135 minutes without conceding to Barca this season.

Moyesiah: The Scot's side could not cope with their opponents (Image: David Ramos)

But they didn't last long after the break. Rulli had already made his fourth save of the match, grappling with a Marc Bartra header from a corner, when Neymar gave the hosts the lead, arriving at the far post to get his head on Messi's diagonal pass to score his 35th goal of the season.

If it looked at time like Moyes knew how to restrict Barca up front, it never really looked like he knew how to trouble them at the back. As Luis Enrique's side began to look a little nervous, La Real never really asked the necessary questions.

Instead, it was still Barcelona who looked most likely to score the next goal.

Messi came close on several occasions, but the final say was left to a man who has been forgotten by many at the club recently, Pedro. A second half substitute, his bicycle kick sealed the game, leaving Barca with a hand on the title and Moyes with an eye on next season.